Karen Kondazian

Karen Kondazian's career as an actor, author, journalist and producer, started early in life... At the age of eight, Karen was chosen to be one of the infamous children on Art Linkletter's famous “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” The opportunity to miss school during tapings was all it took for Karen to abandon her life's goal of becoming a CIA spy and focus on acting.She was born in Boston, completing her education at The University of Vienna and The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, after which she began her acting career in New York. Her first professional work was in the Off Broadway, award-winning production of Michael Cacoyannis' “The Trojan Women,” later winning the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in “The Rose Tattoo.” Tennessee Williams, after seeing her work, was so impressed that he gave her carte blanche to produce any of his plays in his lifetime. Other award-winning performances include “Sweet Bird of Youth” (with Ed Harris), “Vieux Carre” (with Ray Stricklyn) and Maria Callas in “Master Class.” On television, she has appeared as a series regular lead in CBS's “Shannon,” and also guest starred in over 50 television shows and films including: “James Dean” (with James Franco) and “Yes Giorgio” (with Luciano Pavarotti) -- also playing Kate Holiday in David Wolper's award running series: “Showdown at OK Corral.” She is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. As an author, Kondazian is a multi-award winning novelist. Her debut novel, “The Whip,” won the USA News Book Award (Best Historical Fiction), Readers Favorite Award (Best Western Fiction), among other awards. The book was also featured on the cover of Publishers Weekly and is a screenplay.As a journalist, her long running weekly column, “Sculpting Your Career,” appeared in BackStage, and Drama-Logue newspapers. Out of those columns, she created her first non fiction book: “The Actor's Encyclopedia of Casting Directors.”Karen currently resides in Los Angeles, California and is working on her second novel.